Mainstreaming The Far Right in EU Public Policy: The Case Of The Common European System for Returns

The 2024 European Parliament election returned the most right-wing European Parliament in the institution's history. Far-right parties gained one fourth of the seats, prompting questions about how influential they would be in the 2024-2029 legislature. In this paper, we investigate the far right's influence on EU policy-making through the most likely case of the EU's proposed Common European System for Returns. Drawing on literature on EU policy-making and the mainstreaming of the far right, we identify channels of direct and indirect far right influence on EU policy. Empirically, we qualitatively asses the extent to which the legislation represents a radicalisation of EU policy in a direction compatible with a far right agenda through an analysis of the policy itself and its legislative iter. Our findings indicate a progressive normalisation of far right ideas, albeit within a context where liberal safeguards are still nominally praised. The paper contributes to research on the impact of the far right on EU policy-making and the mainstreaming of the far right.